Cipher
by Macx
Summary: re-uploaded after it went missing Will Lennox is dead. At least officially. So he has to get his affairs into order. He had survived a potentially fatal accident and he would adapt, but it was hard. So very, very hard. For the first time he could appreciate what Sam had gone through each day. At least Will wasn't doubling over because of sentient machines overloading his brain


He had brought his affairs into order. Insurance policies, for example. He had had a private life insurance. The sum had gone to Sarah. As had the benefits from the Army. Will had also talked long and hard with Banachek to insure his wife was receiving at least a widow's pension. They might have been divorced, but he wanted his family seen taken care of. So Sarah was now the beneficiary of forty-five percent of his pension.

Sam had helped with the little things like cancelling his private cell phone contract, his rental agreement for the apartment he had had outside the base. Banachek's men had called all kinds of people and within two months it was as if Will Lennox had never been there. No credit cards, no account, nothing. He had no shopping discount cards, no memberships, no registration on any mailing lists. It was eerie. His driver's license had been invalidated, he had his own death certificate, and his passport was no longer his own. It belonged to Major William Lennox, deceased.

His new cell phone was Army issue, black ops so to speak. It wasn't registered to his name. Will Lennox didn't exist. Not even when looking behind the codes that protected the phone files did he reappear. It was too dangerous. His credit card had the same safety measures. Not that he would use it a lot. Everything he needed was provided through military channels.

Of course he had a new driver's license. He was still Will Lennox, but he was suddenly thirty-five again. Okay, he could pull that off. He hadn't changed in that regard. Police investigations should he be stopped and his license checked would come up with a perfect driving record. No military connection, though. Ironhide was still registered to his name. The license plate, that was, not the mech himself.

Will looked around his new apartment, which looked like some nifty loft in an old hangar – at least the latter was correct. Sam was envious, which had made Lennox laugh.

All in all he had started to spend a lot more time with the younger man. They had suddenly even more in common. With Sam now being officially employed by the US government and working at the base, he was around more or less constantly. Looking into a similar place to stay permanently, the two men had taken strolls across the abandoned base.

"That looks okay," Sam remarked and nodded at the smaller hangar.

It had been used for storage and the structure looked rather intact. Will inspected it more closely, then shrugged.

"Whole lotta work," he remarked.

"I think the guys might enjoy helping. I know Bumblebee's been going on about helping with renovations. It's large enough for him to stand in."

That much was true. Water, electricity, everything Sam would need, was easily installed by connecting the hangar to the already existing sewer system. Ironhide would have fun setting up electronics and security, and connecting Sam to the main computer. There was even a lower level, a small basement, to use.

"So, how are you doing?" Sam asked and sat down on an overturned metal oil drum.

Will raised an eyebrow behind his sun glasses. "Great. For a dead guy, that is."

The younger man smiled a little. "I figure it's hard, huh? I mean, I tried to think what I would do in your situation…"

"You are in my situation, kid."

"Nope. I'm technopathic. I can hide it. I didn't have to die."

"It was my choice, Sam. To protect my family."

"From yourself?"

"Yes. How can I ever go and see my daughter again? This," he held up his arms, turning the upper sides outward, "is always visible."

The glyphs were not easy to hide. They were everywhere. The runes made no exceptions. His face was like some weird billboard sometimes. There was a certain aestheticism to it all. It didn't scar him like a burn victim, but it was visible. People stared. They looked at those eerily beautiful markings and didn't know what to think.

"I know. I understand, too." Sam looked sad. "This sucks."

"A lot."

Lennox sprawled down next to Sam, looking at the dusty place in the middle of the desert that was their home. He glanced at Sam and found the technopath giving him a closer look.

Scanning, he mused, then smirked.

"And? Still feeling human?"

Sam blushed a little. "Yeah. Sorry. Just… checking."

"Hey, no problem. I'm actually reassured." Lennox watched the runes lazily swirl around his index finger, then disappear. "This used to unnerve me," he finally said.

"No any more?"

"It's still… strange. But I look at those things every day. It's not like some birth mark you can cover up. They're on my face, on my hands… you grow used to it. It's no longer so distracting."

"The one on your neck… it's staying?"

Lennox shrugged. "Who knows? It's been like that for weeks now."

"Has anyone ever tried to read what they say?"

"Ironhide's been hinting at some things. Some is old Cybertronian, some Allspark code, some I don't know. I don't come with a handbook," he joked.

Sam ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "We make quite a pair, don't we?"

"We do?" Lennox raised his brows.

It got him a grin. "I got hit by the Allspark's energy discharge, you got hit by the Allspark itself. We both survived. We both have people who care about us. We both had to make changes in our lives to adjust. Just be glad it's Ironhide training you instead of Barricade. I think Ironhide would flip completely if he ever offered."

Lennox laughed freely. "I doubt Barricade would."

"Don't be too sure. He's intrigued by your mimicry skills."

"He told you?"

"He didn't have to."

Ah, Lennox thought. Technopathy at its most mysterious. Not only did Sam manage uplinks to all mechs, he had a very close and intimate connection to Bumblebee, and he could easily link to Barricade for some reason. Aside from Jazz, only Sam seemed completely at ease around the former Decepticon.

"So, how are things with Bumblebee?" he asked casually.

Sam stared at him as if he had asked about the porn collection in his basement or something. His eyes grew a little wider and there was a faint blush of color.

"Uhm, okay."

Lennox grinned. He didn't know what exactly had happened between the technopath and the Autobot, but it appeared it was coming close to what Jazz had with Barricade, just with a twist. Sam had no spark and he was human. Lennox had become aware of the close bond between the teenager and the machine life form way back in Mission City. It had been like something intense had passed between the two, something born out of fear, the need to survive, and a recognition between them. From then on, Bumblebee had been at Sam's side, no matter what.

Years later, Sam had his engineer's degree, had become a technopath, Mikaela had dumped him, and the bonds of friendship had deepened into something human language and imagination couldn't describe.

"It's not like we're dating," Sam muttered, waving a distracted hand. "I mean, Bee's not some human girl and I never thought of him as something like that and we're friends and he's my guardian and…"

Will laughed and squeezed his friend's arm. "Whoa, kid, slow down. I'm not the lady's father. What you two have is… special, right? Since the beginning. You're closer to him because of your abilities than ever. I think it's nice. To have someone accept you so completely, know you, never judge you."

Sam's eyes narrowed a little as he studied Lennox's face and Will wondered how many runes were rushing over it.

"I think the mechs' version of relationships is cleaner than ours," the former Army Ranger added into the silence. "No messy stuff, no marriage, no divorce. Must be nice to be together just because you like someone, not because your body wants to jump someone's bones because of some stupid biological imperative."

"I loved Mikaela," Sam said softly.

"I never said you didn't, Sam. Sarah is… was my life. I still love her. Of course I do." Lennox shook his head ruefully. "We split up because of all the secrets and lies. Mikaela knew them. You didn't have to hide that. She knows about the technopathy, too. I can never tell my wife or my daughter. I made the choice to die to protect them from all that…"

"You never thought about telling them?" Sam wanted to know.

"Try convincing the brass."

"If they had agreed?"

Will frowned. Expose his wife and daughter to this world? Endanger them? But what if he didn't tell them, and someone harmed them because of Lennox's involvement with the Autobots?

"Water under the bridge," he murmured.

A bridge he had burned.

Drawing himself out of those dark thoughts, he looked at his friend again. "So, how's that working out without the biological imperative?" he teased, grinning.

Sam blushed again. "Will… It's not… I mean…"

"Hey, just wondering. I know teenage hormones. I can still remember, y'know. Despite my old age."

Sam snorted and grimaced, then shrugged. "It's hard to explain. What it feels like. Touching something so… alien. Throughout training with Barricade I got distracted by the spark bond. It's what got us both into trouble several times. Spark bonds to me are so tempting, such utter beauty. It's hard to describe. Like looking at those Hubble shots of faraway galaxies maybe. You're drawn to it, but you know you can never touch it."

"You can touch Bumblebee."

"Yes."

No further explanation. Lennox smiled softly. He knew that what those two shared, coming from two so very different cultures, from different planets, was unique. It had developed over time, had gotten closer and closer. No one would suspect it at first. Sam's pats against Bumblebee's armor in robot or car mode seemed natural. Them hanging out together was a given. Bumblebee being protective could be seen as his duty as a guardian.

The technopathy had enabled Sam to be closer than any human could ever be to a mechanoid. It was something that helped them both express emotions no one could put into words. They portrayed an easy friendship to the outside world, but a small group knew there was more. The Autobots did, as did Lennox. It was nice to know that some things worked out, that there was a kind of happiness there. His own life had had far and few good things in it lately.

They walked back in silence after a while and Sam excused himself to go over some of his work again. Will smiled to himself. As a 'consultant' he had had little to do as of late. Epps and the team were out doing simulations. So there was no chance of a friendly game of video battle either.

A beep startled him. He dug out his cell phone and rolled his eyes as he saw the ID.

"You telepathic now?" he asked instead of a greeting.

"I can see the runes flashing from the other side of the base," came the grumble. "If you feel bored, I have some work."

Will chuckled. "Taking apart some new weapons system?"

"Testing a new weapons system." Ironhide sounded almost too happy.

Happy Ironhide was dangerous. The mech lived for weapons it seemed. In the time he had known Ironhide, Lennox had learned a lot about Cybertronian military grade weaponry, and the mech himself.

"As long as you don't take pot shots at me," he sighed and closed his cell.

He walked around the huge above-ground hangar and met up with the black mech on the other side. If Cybertronians could bounce on the non-existent balls of their feet, Ironhide would be doing so. He was extremely hyper, hefting a big gun that looked rather intimidating and dangerous.

"Okay, so whatcha gonna blow up?" Lennox drawled.

Ironhide grinned.

Will started to laugh and shook his head. "Okay, big guy, let's roll."

Ironhide transformed, the weapon disappearing somewhere Lennox didn't even want to ponder, and he hopped into the cab. Shooting targets with Ironhide was always distracting enough to forget time and the world.

Will sat on the warm hood of the black Topkick, legs stretched out in front of him, back against the windscreen.

He didn't want to go back to the base. He wanted to stay here as long as possible, look at the peaceful landscape – with its scars from Ironhide's weapons practice. But night was falling and Ironhide would want to go back and work on fine-tuning his latest baby.

There was little to nothing for Will to do back there. Just have people give him sideways looks. It hurt. It hurt more than he had ever wanted to confess before. Sam had it easy; he wasn't marked.

"Ironhide?" he broke the mutual, companionable silence between them.

"Yes?"

"You told me you have no idea what the writing on me is."

"Yes."

"You lied."

A rumble passed through the Topkick.

"You recognize some, right? I noticed the looks. You can read some of those runes. It's not all ancient cosmic gibberish."

A hum went through the metal body underneath him. "Yes," the mech finally confessed.

"Tell me what it says."

Another hum and prolonged silence. Suddenly the vehicle form shifted and Will gave a yell of surprise. Before he could even think about trying to cushion his fall, he was caught in metal hands.

"Geez! Don't DO that!" he exclaimed.

Ironhide didn't look apologetic – much. The blue optics glowed with a smile. He kept Will sitting in one hand, the other carefully touching the softer human skin. Runes swirled around the area.

"That is my name," the weapons specialist said calmly. "My Cybertronian name. When one of us touches you, the runes display the individual's name. Like a recognition circuit would display a code."

"Uh…"

That sounded… weird. Will looked at the strangely beautiful writing. So that was Ironhide's name? He had seen the characters before. It made sense now.

"The writing on your shoulder, running down your back is ancient text from our earliest books. Like your culture's historic scripts."

"So I got something like the Magna Charta on my right shoulder?"

"Older, more like…" Ironhide seemed to access his systems, "religious texts."

"What?! I'm a walking bible textbook?"

"No. We have history texts, of the earliest times of our creation, before records were kept. These are recollections from back when Cybertron was created."

"Once upon a time?"

Ironhide smiled. "In a way."

His finger tips brushed over Will's neck. "The permanent glyphs are the name of your planet in our language. It's like your origin, where you come from, who created you."

"Family tree."

"No, more. It's your actual origin as a species, as life." Ironhide seemed to have trouble translating what he wanted to say, what he saw. "It's like the runes we bear. It's a sign of who we are, where we came from, what we saw. It's us. It's individual, given to us at birth. Deep inside our protoforms are the basic programs that tell us who and what we truly are, where are our home it. It's there when the Allspark creates a spark."

"And because I carry the Allspark, I now have this too?"

Ironhide shrugged. "I'm not a philosopher. I never could relate to the soft sciences. We had people who devoted their whole existence to deciphering the Allspark. I couldn't even tell you if the shard contained only a fragment of the Allspark or if all fragments are the individual whole."

"Sam said he can feel it as a whole. Felt it, I mean." Because it was gone now, had merged with Lennox.

"This one," Ironhide drew his attention back to the runes and following a line of lazily whirling glyphs, "is ancient Cybertronian for protection. I saw one on your chest that said 'binding'."

Lennox swallowed and tried not to pull his hand away, hide it. It was of no use anyway. His face was a display, too.

"There are many words I recognize," the black mech went on. "Your face usually has spirit, awakening and touch on it. The rest I cannot read. One… I think in your language it would be 'humanity'."

Will ran shaky fingers through his hair.

"Will?"

"I'm okay. Fine. Just… it's still a lot to digest. Especially about having whole text passages or ancient scrolls of something on my body."

Not to mention what he had discovered a few days ago when he had stood naked in front of a full length mirror. The Allspark cube had had parallel lines, some a bit wavy, some straight. Those had appeared on his lower back, running down his butt and thinning out around his thighs. It was freaky.

"I wish I knew what this was all about," he whispered after a while. "Why did it happen? Why did that fragment dissolve? Why me?"

Ironhide regarded him silently for a while. "I think there was no higher reason," he finally replied. "If it had been Sam or Epps, the same would have happened. Wrong place, wrong time."

"Yeah. And now I'm walking around with your cube's writing all over me and having a hard time. And don't tell me it has battle potential, because it hasn't!"

"I won't. What it did though, was to hide the last remains of the Allspark, Will," Ironhide said, voice so serious it made Lennox shiver. "Where the fragment still gave off tiny blips, you are now blanketing everything."

"You want to tell me it's using me as what? A cover?"

Horrible thoughts wormed their way into his mind. Like the scene from the first Alien movie, with the creature bursting forth from its victim's stomach. His own stomach clenched and he felt like throwing up.

Good gawd, no… Was that thing growing inside him? Gaining strength? Waiting to leave his body again, killing him in turn?

"Will!"

Eyes the color of pure blue ice snapped open and Ironhide rocked back, making a noise that was a mixture of surprise and shock. Will almost fell off the mech's hand and only Ironhide's reflexes kept him from a big, ugly bruise.

"Will! Snap out of it!"

He grabbed the thumb that was securing him to the palm, using it as an anchor. His breath was coming in ragged gasps.

"What's going on? What's wrong? Are you in pain? Are you hurt?" Ironhide demanded.

"No. No, I'm okay. It's just… you said… what the hell is all this?!" Lennox finally exploded and pushed at the finger.

Ironhide let him go, probably aware that the human needed to move. Will slid to the ground, shaky legs refusing to lock immediately. What was wrong with him? What was going on inside his body? He had survived war! He hadn't broken down in Qatar or in Mission City, or any other assignment before that!

"I'm some kind of living camouflage!" he yelled in fury. "It's using me, right? And when the time comes, when I'm no longer of any use, I'll be dead, right? It's hiding itself!"  
Ironhide watched him looking uncomfortable with the explosion of temper and emotions.

"There is nothing of the shard left inside you," he finally told the shaking human. "I doubt the Allspark can use human tissue to recreate itself."

"So where did all that alien metal go? I don't have it! It can't have simply disappeared into thin air!"

"We don't understand it," the mech confessed. "We never have. All its abilities… they are a mystery."

"So I'm the new mystery, right?"

The eyes were still glowing blue and the runes had gone from lazily flowing to resting prominently on his exposed skin.

"Humans are generally a mystery," Ironhide remarked dryly.

Lennox gave a laugh that sounded like a desperate cough. He slumped down onto the ground, fingers clenching into his hair, eyes shut.

"I'm so screwed, Ironhide. So utterly screwed. One way or another."

"Your change occurred only a few weeks ago," the weapons specialist told him. "You need time. Your species might be adaptable, but there is a limit and you have surpassed it. Sam needed years."

"Oh, thanks for that pep talk," was the sarcastic reply. "And Sam's a different matter altogether. He's not some cosmic glow worm on legs! No one has any idea what's next in this!"

"But you are alive. In my book, survival means you can start again. You still exist."

Lennox laughed humorlessly. Alien cultures, alien thoughts. Of course it as true. He had survived a potentially fatal accident and he would adapt, but it was hard. So very, very hard. For the first time he could appreciate what Sam had gone through each day. At least Will wasn't doubling over because of sentient machines overloading his brain, and he wasn't short-circuiting electronic devices in turn either. That was the good side. Sam's good side was that his change wasn't broadcast all over, twenty-four/seven.

"Do you require some time away?"

"Where would I go?" he asked resignedly.

"You expressed the wish to explore the old Hoover Dam facilities before."

"Banachek will probably flip."

Ironhide grinned. "I think Prime can convince him."

Lennox sighed and flopped back, staring up at his so much larger companion. "Why not? I think some time away from my recent past might help."

"Do you regret relieving yourself of your command?"

"No, not really. I know the dangers. I know I can't expect the upper brass to just ignore what happened. I know that my condition will make command even more difficult. It was the right thing to do, the honorable thing." He smiled darkly at that. "But honor aside, I feel like hell leaving my career behind. I feel like betraying myself, my parents, everyone. I proved I was ready to be in command!"

Ironhide leaned closer. "You were. And you are still a worthy commander. You are a warrior, Will Lennox. That will never change."

"And now I'm Prime's new recruit?" he teased.

Ironhide rumbled. "In a way."

"Oh well. I could have ended up working some security or night watch job." Lennox raised a hand and splayed his fingers against the sky. "This… will take a little more time. And working with you or the others distracts me from just staring at my skin. As for the Hoover Dam base: sure. I'm ready to go. Anything to take my mind off myself."

Ironhide rose and dust billowed around him. "I'll tell Prime to make arrangements. Might be a nice trip."

Lennox waited for him to transform and climbed into the cab. Yes, it would be a distraction; a welcome distraction. He was actually looking forward to it.


End file.
